Genealogy, anyone?

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

We just met with my grandparents to discuss family history for my son's school genealogy project. There is a ton we didn't know, and my grandmother unknowingly helped us connect her family to the old country in Lithuania.

Amazing how much stuff there is out there. We found my great-grandfather's immigration papers, the ship he came on and when, where he lived in the US, and as a result, a whole bunch of cousins and other relatives.

We got one side of my mother's family back to the 1720's. The other side we believe we can connect back to a familiy connected to King David. We tracked my father's father's family back far enough to find out the real last name is so rare, that anyone in the US with the name is related.

Too cool!

DBDB

[ikojo]

1. Wow! My uncle Red has been working on our geneology for

quite sometime. Regarding my great grandparents he can find nothing before the 1900s. They came from what was then Bohemia, but did not come through Ellis Island. They came through St Lawrence (I suspect because of quotas).

My dad's father was an immigrant from Ireland and was much older than his mom. As a matter of fact according to the 1930 census he had been married before, I don't know if that was in Ireland or not.

A great site to go to is the Mormon family history site. Because Mormons believe that what is sealed on earth is for eternity, they are big time into family history.

http://www.familysearch.org/

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

2. You aren't kidding about the Mormons

Many years ago a close friend showed me a book on Jewish Genealogy written by the Mormons. When I looked up my grandmother's maiden name, it said "see appendix A" where I found a chart going back to the 1200's. The lineage now goes back to King David. It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest recorded continuous family chain in history.

DBDB

[Bertha Venation]

3. I know a little bit. My father's family came over from Walheim, So. Russia

in 1874, and settled in Kansas, later moving to Oklahoma, where my dad was born just 65 years after the immigration.

What I wish I could trace back is my maternal ancestry -- my mother's mothers, and my paternal grandmother's mothers. I am running into dead ends due to lack of cash to put into the search -- and because of common names. My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Griswold; my paternal great-grandmother's maiden name was Johnson. It's a bummer.

I too find it FASCINATING, Dr. B. (My orthopaedic surgeon is also Dr. B. ;))

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

4. If you can get back a generation or two

and find a port of entry, it becomes a little more interesting. You are right though about the records. It gets aggravating. I found a free ship record from 1889 for the SS Alaska, on which my great grandfather traveled. Of course the free record was for the June trip, and my great-grandfather was on the next one. I didn't feel like paying the $100 for the record.

As for your doctor, hopefully he is a real doctor, unlike me. I don't play one on TV nor have I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express any time recently.

DBDB

[Bertha Venation]

5. My Dr. B. is a real doc. I want to smack her silly when she

injects my ankle, but other than that she's fab!

Have you ever read Roots? Don't let the book's cliched name or reputation stop you. 90% of the book, of course, is a novel (and a fantastic one at that). But at the end, Haley describes his search for his African forefather. I've read the book a dozen times, and every time I get the chills. He describes several moments of ". . . my God!" I imagine you might've had that same stunned feeling when you spoke w/ your grandparents.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

6. I read Roots

years ago, in one night, during a bout of insomnia. It was a great read.

As for my grandparents, I had heard many of the stories before. What was intriguing though, was the effort to connect our family to others in the area, who had been connected to Lithuania in the 1800s.

I remembered stories from my grandmother of family visiting from Sharon, PA, but she didn't remember their names. The other night she made some calls to cousins, and found them. Connection made.

Based on that info, some time charting, Lithuanian census records, and other information, I think I found the rest of the family going back to the 1700s. If I am right, then we are connected to the rest of the famous family.

DBDB

[Bertha Venation]

8. now I have chills and it's not even my family

That is SO freaking cool. Congratulations on your finds! :bounce:

[steely]

7. Thanks for sharing the family info.

I like genealogy because it's addictive, fun, interesting, and it's a hobby you can put down for a year, and come back to whenever you want. Sometimes I feel like a detective.
I started some time (ok, 1988) ago and had measurable success.
I also have a rare name, so I know of what you speak.
My pet peeves are familiy members with very common names (makes them hard to distinguish among the others) (e.g. Mary Smith), and the fact that some of my ancestors were illiterate.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

9. Names can be confusing

I was going over the family with my grandmother, and she told me "Sam was Goerge's father, and George was Sam's father. They were all your great-grandfather's cousins"

So now I have two Sams, a George, and my great grandfather named George. Sounds a little like Larry, Darryl, and my other brother Darryl. Either that or my wife's extended family, where I met Dave, David, Davey, Dave, Dave, David, and Dave.

I finally figured out Sam Sr. was my great grandfather George's cousin. Took a few minutes.

DBDB